He told Hindustan Times: "Everyone is chasing a wonder figure - the Rs. 100/200 crore club. And when you chase that, you cannot take risks. The more you are in that race, the more formulaic and uni-dimensional you get.

"Having said this, I also want to chase figures by doing some formulaic films, but at the same time, I also want to do a certain parallel to mainstream kind of cinema that changes the terrain. I will always take risks as they have always paid out in my career. So I am not competing. That is my point."

Hashmi added that he is at a "fun" stage of his Bollywood career, despite being labelled a controversial actor.

"It's fun. I have realized that I have reached a certain point in my career where I can start doing things that I wanted to do and steer my career whichever way I want," he said.

"The choices you get to make at this stage are something I always wanted, compared to five years back, when even though the efforts were the same, the choices were limited. Honestly, I don't know which level I am on right now. Lots has changed since I started. But the fear of failure is still strong in me."